After quite a bit of deliberation and procrastination, we finally got our act together, started an inventory list, made tags and I even let the Great One paint a piece of furniture. After a not too close inspection, Sara understands why I never let her dad do any painting. “Obviously, Dad didn’t grow up doing arts and crafts,” she quipped, hitting the nail right smack dab on the head. Luckily, the cabinet is for display purposes only. Although I must admit I didn’t do much better painting the shelves that went in it.

With everything ready to go, Sunday morning arrived cloudy and damp. A bit breezy, too, urging us to get our things across the newest Cooper River Bridge before the bottom fell out. I know, it’s actually the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge and it has been open since 2005 and it replaced both the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge and the Silas N. Pearman Bridge but with those two bridges no longer standing, it will remain “The Cooper River Bridge” at least in my mind. (We won’t discuss the state of my mind, not today anyway.)

I’d like to be a fly on the wall at BCBC (Bungee Cord Boot Camp). They must put those little guys through quite a rigorous training program before sending them out into the world to help us keep all our stuff Tetrissed into the bed of a truck going across a long, high bridge on a windy day without anything flying off into the wild blue yonder or the windshield of another vehicle.

On the other side of the Cooper, with the help of Jonathan, Joanna and Sara, the booth began to take shape. Rug down, Hoosier, curio and the aforementioned now black and white cabinet in place, we began to unpack our treasures.

The Michelob neon light found a home inside the black and white cabinet, a far cry from its former home in a bar on the lake near Columbia. We hoped the Miller mug light formerly located in a liquor store in Conowingo, Maryland and the Schmidt Bartender, not sure of his heritage, on the shelf above would remind the Michelob of its former glory days.

The Marsh Hoosier-type cabinet became home to milk bottles, canning jars and some vintage kitchen staples. The Coca-Cola and Pepsi:Cola metal carriers landed on opposite corners on top of the cabinet. The Snowdrift and Jumbo Peanut Butter jars jumped into place on the top shelf along with Ma Brown’s Apple Butter.

The curio settled comfortably into the only corner hosting Made In occupied Japan items including salt and pepper shakers, figurines and a hand warmer with its original packaging. A cup and saucer, the onlyMade in Germany – US Zone we have found took front and center. Baseball cards (the Great One’s Dream Team) were granted a shelf along with a Michael Jordan Box Set and a couple of Starting Line Up Award Winner groupings from the 1990s.

An antique double-snail ink well claimed a shelf with a few vintage desktop items no longer seen in modern offices. Nowadays, your desktop is a screen on your computer where you can find just about anything you need – that is until your computer dies on you and if you’re like me and get lazy about backing up your files, you’re up the creek without a paddle. (Eric says, “Lazy would imply that you actually do occasionally back up the files, Mom. When exactly did you last back up your files?” That was a rhetorical question, right?)

The booth was looking pretty good but taking a vote, it was decided unanimously that the pegboard really needed to be covered and we had room for a few more items. So early the next morning, armed with burlap, tacks, and pegboard hangers the Great One and I returned to Antiques Market. It didn’t take us long to realize that in order to hang the burlap, we were going to have to undo all we did the day before without benefit of our 3 able-bodied young laborers. And once we had done that and hung the burlap, we realized we should have taken pictures so we could set it all back up the right way. The final lesson of the day, it is much easier to add to the inventory list and tag items at home. I’m sure there are plenty more lessons coming our way.